My dad and I are going to Italy, and he has a pacemaker which means he cannot go through the metal detectors. At the airport, they take him to a separate screening area and wand him over, but what about places like the Vatican, Colosseum, St. Peter's, etc.? I'm guessing they do the same thing, but I never noticed if they had wands when I was in Rome last year.
Also, should I get his medical pacemaker card translated into Italian or is 'pacemaker' generally understood?
If a spot doesn't have wands, they'll usually do a pat-down search if you set off a detector. If you go to http://www.medtronic.com/brady/patient/paceidcard_en.pdf there's a cut-out card that advises people in six languages that you have a pacemaker....put that in with the pacemaker ID card, and you should be just fine.
We were in Florence and Paris last summer with my Dad who has an implanted defibrillator, so he also has to avoid the metal detector. I know he didn't know the correct phrase in Italian or French or have a translated card; I think the "universal" patting the chest and saying pacemaker worked fine. If I recall correctly at the Florence museums they just waved him around-no hand wand or pat-down.
Great tip from Norm. I've seen that card or similar. I've been on Duty as EMS and had a guy approach me who spoke no English but was able to show me the card. Of course we would have been able to find his pacemaker on our own when we assesssed him but he showed us the card anyway.
It's a little different senario than what you described but I have seen the card and it is helpful. It's a very good tip to carry a card such as the one suggested by Norm.
Thanks so much Norm! I have bookmarked the site and we will definitely cut the card out and take it with us.
Kathy--sort of makes you wonder about the seriousness of their security doesn't it? Still we will be with a tour group in Florence, so it will be nice if he doesn't slow things down too much.
I dont know about pacemakers but my wife has two new knees and she received a card stating so.The security people told us they dont care about the card as anyone could get one.She just tells them and they wand her each time.
